I'm not a fan of the 10,000 mile oil change intervals - my HHR has 177,000 miles on the clock - and I'd like to see it hit 250,000 (my record was a 1985 Saab 900 NA coupe with 310K on the clock when I sold her, still running well) - mostly highway miles - but I'm thinking of cutting the intervals back to 5K (when the oil life monitor is at 50%) - does this make sense to long term HHR owners? I bought the car a year ago with 160K on the clock - again - lots of highway miles and a mature (according to my age, not my wife) driver -

Cheers

Steve

 

No. Not to me.

The Ecotec engine was designed to be ECOnomical & ECOlogical, Meaning uses less oil & fuel and adds less pollution to the Earth.

You do not need to change the oil more often than the computer tells you to. You do not need to dispose of more oil than the computer tells you to.

It's called ECO Engineering. Modern cars DO NOT need to have the oil recycled as often as those POS cars of old.

Now, I challenge you to give me a documented instance of an engine made since 2000 that suffered an oil change related failure, maybe even ever (I have never heard of one). Considering Mfg. recommendations, and even a little abuse.

Be fiscally and ECO responsible! I don't own any oil company stock, so maybe I'm biased.

 

Have ran several vehicles well beyond recommended ( 3k intervals) and never had oil/ wear problems...made 200 to over 300k miles easily. Pulling t h e pan showed light brown staining on crank rods and block....all on synthetic. But, these vehicles were always on syn oils...broke in on castrol to 2k then switched over..

 

Chevy could have called the 1963 Impala SS 409 dual quad (a favorite car of mine that I owned in my dear dim past) the Impala ECO 409 - and that wouldn't have changed a thing. Back in the late 80's VW had the Eco Diesel jetta - just a turbo diesel that produced more carbon per mile than a gas Jetta did at the time..... so what's in a name???

Back to the point - I'll do some analysis of the oil after 5K and decide, based on condition, if it's time to replace or not. A lot can happen to an engine in 177K miles (ring wear, cylinder wear) which can lead to blow-by which will dilute the oil - a friend of mine can perform analysis based on tribology - using a Steinbeck curve he can determine the friction qualities between surfaces based on the condition of the lubricant at a given moment in its lifecycle.

I'll publish the results here in about 90 days (5K miles + lab time)

cheers

Steve

 

It's not just a name anymore. The Swedish engineers at SAAB spent a lot of time and money on the EcoTec engine. It was developed before GM got it's hands on SAAB.

Still waiting to hear about any car that had it's oil changed regularly that had an oil related failure.

My last HHR got 200,000 miles before the head gasket gave out. Changed the filter every time the DIC said to change the oil changed the oil every other time with full syn (whatever was on sale). I am old enough to remember when Mobil1 first came out and was advertised to last forever (at $20 a qt), that only changed after the sales department realized the error.

 

"Back to the point - I'll do some analysis of the oil after 5K and decide, based on condition, if it's time to replace or not. A lot can happen to an engine in 177K miles (ring wear, cylinder wear) which can lead to blow-by which will dilute the oil - a friend of mine can perform analysis based on tribology - using a Steinbeck curve he can determine the friction qualities between surfaces based on the condition of the lubricant at a given moment in its lifecycle."


I have taken a day of thought on how to word this. Sarcasm is the only way.

Gee, I'll bet the engineers never thought of that! Image testing performance before recommending a procedure that a warranty depends on!

 

I use Mobil 1 0W-30, and change oil filters once or twice between complete oil changes (varies, but complete change at roughly 7,500 - 10 k miles).

On other cars (with oil pressure gauges) I've noticed that measured oil pressure is actually somewhat greater with 0W-30 compared to 5W-30. Measurement is always downstream of oil filter, so most likely pressure drop across filter is less with 0W-30, especially with cold engine.

At any rate, getting the engine oiled as fast as possible during start-up favors reduced wear. And the less work the starting motor has to do the better for both it and battery.

At least with conventional oil, my understanding is that it is best to keep the range down to a minimum. Some years ago 10W-40 fell out of favor compared to 10W-30 and 20W-50.

 

I just changed the oil in my 06 HHR w 2.4L with M1 5-30 with the DIC saying 19% oil life and 11,800 miles.. about 6000 miles on all highway Florida to NY and back a couple of times. The car has 120,000 miles on the clock.

 

Finally, a posting about changing the oil filter between oil change life. I was thinking of changing filter at about 5/6K and changing oil at about 15K using M1, recomended weight.as per owners manual.
Strong believer in syn oil, been using M1 forever. 2006 with 65K on it.

I use nothing in my rides but M1, 1996 Ford Ranger 112K, change at 20K never add, runs like a top.

Bill

 

Actually the changing of the filter between oil changes has been discussed a fair bit - no big deal really - it's kinda an owners perogative thing. Some do, some don't.

And good on ya for sticking to the recommended weight as per the owners manual - it's recommended for a reason.

What motor you running in the Ranger? I kinda like that 4.0L they have. Seems bulletproof.